Transparency pledged in review
— Board of Police Commissioners Chairman Henri Gourd said Monday afternoon that his board’s goal "is to be as transparent as possible” when it comes to the investigation into how police officers handled the aftermath of a June 26 incident in which a Black woman working at the Quality Inn was beaten by a white couple.
Gourd’s remarks during a special meeting of the board came just hours after police announced Philip Sarner and
Emily Orbay had been apprehended early Monday morning in Brooklyn, N.Y., and are now awaiting extradition to face assault and hate crime charges.
Gourd laid out the time line of the police response to the hotel and subsequent investigation but said he could not answer questions from the public due to the ongoing in
vestigation. He also said the board supports the town’s decision to hire an independent investigator to review how the case was handled by police.
Last week the town hired attorney Frank E. Rudewicz of the Boston firm of blumshapiro to conduct an external review of the hotel incident and the police department’s policies and procedures. Rudewicz is a former Hartford police department detective who rose to be commander of its intelligence division.
Gourd said the board supports the review and “is very interested in its findings.”
“We are pretty fortunate as a town to have an administration that wants the facts,” said Gourd, who said he has been updated almost daily on the case by the police department.
“If we leave allegations of poor police work or mishandling of this incident unaddressed, they become the only story,” he said.
Gourd said it is in the best interests of the town, the police department and every officer to investigate and “tell the public all the facts we can.”
The police department has been criticized by the victim, Crystal Caldwell, her attorney and her supporters for how it handled the aftermath of the assault in which Caldwell, Orbay and Sarner all requested medical treatment. Caldwell went to Pequot Treatment Center and Sarner and Orbay to L+M.
Capt. Todd Olson has said police called L+M and said a suspect in an assault was being treated in the emergency room and officers would like to come over to interview him and place him under arrest. Olson said police were told they should not come to the hospital due to COVID-19 precautions. Police said they intended to apprehend Orbay and Sarner after they left the hospital and returned to the hotel to collect their belongings, but they were able to return and drove off in their car.
L+M has said it is policy to cooperate with law enforcement in performing their duties at the hospital. But a spokeswoman has declined to comment on the exact conversation that took place between Stonington police and hospital staff on June 26.
During a public comment section of Monday afternoon’s meeting, one resident suggested that after the investigation is complete, the police department publicly apologize to Caldwell for the delay in apprehending the suspects. Attorney Elizabeth Leamon suggested the police department agree to implement anti-bias training and equip officers with body cameras. Another resident suggested a public review process of the department’s polices and procedures that would include Jean Jordan of the New London chapter of the NAACP.
In response to Gourd’s comment that Rudewicz was recommended by the town’s insurance company, resident Betsy Bartholet said she could not tell if Rudewicz would be truly an independent investigator.
Gourd also said the board canceled its meeting last week because a member of the town’s information technology department was not available to run the virtual meeting.
As part of a status report, Gourd said officers who responded to the initial call only saw part of the video surveillance of the assault and not the one captured by a camera by an ice machine. He said officers first saw that three days later.